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Rome focus of World Refugee Day

The UN refugee
agency, in its 60th year,marks World Refugee Day with a rich and varied
programme of events in locations worldwide and the launch of a new global
awareness campaign (see separate story).

The Italian
capital of Rome will be the focus of this year's events on World Refugee Day
itself (June 20), with High Commissioner António Guterres due to present
UNHCR's annual statistics report on the number of people of concern to the
agency.

He will also preside
over a special commemorative event that will be attended by Italy's
President Giorgio Napolitano and six refugees, including a Polish survivor of
the Holocaust in World War II.

Rome's
ancient Colosseum will again be bathed in UN blue, one of many monuments around
the world to be spotlit to mark the occasion, including the iconic Empire State
Building in New York.

From light shows to food bazaars

Activities and
special events will not be restricted to June 20, but will start in the week
ahead of the special day. Guterres, for example, will be going to Italy's Lampedusa
Island on June 19 to meet some of the
thousands of people – including
refugees and asylum-seekers – who have risked their lives to cross the Mediterranean
Sea on overcrowded vessels from Libya.

UNHCR activities
on World Refugee Day include a wide range of activities, including light shows,
film screenings, lectures, panel discussions, food bazaars, fashion shows,
cultural performances, concerts and sports contests.

There will also
be competitions, tree planting, speeches, poetry recitals and photography
exhibitions.

The agency's
partners, including governments, donors, non-governmental organizations,
Angelina Jolie and our other Goodwill Ambassadors, will be doing their part to
help.

Football tournaments

Several European
countries – Austria, Finland,
Germany, Hungary, Ireland,
Italy and Portugal – will be holding special football tournaments between
citizens of the host countries and refugees and asylum-seekers in cooperation with
local partner organizations. A number of countries in Europe will also hold
umbrella parades, symbolising protection, including the United Kingdom and Austria.

In the French
capital, Paris, UNHCR and several
partners will on June 27 organize a WRD-linked writers' conference on exile,
asylum and identity. It will bring together a number of writers who are, or
have been, refugees or exiles in France.

Reading a refugee

In Belgium,
UNHCR has decorated the tram that runs along the country's coastline until the
end of November. A series of tents is depicted on the outside of the tram, with
the written message: ''Ýeah, holidaaaaay! Nope, a refugee camp."

UNHCR's office
in Strasbourg, meanwhile, will on June 20
open a three-day "living library" in the parliamentary assembly of
the Council of Europe. This will gather refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless
people who can be borrowed by the public, like a library book, for a limited
period of time, during which the "reader" finds out about their
history. A similar event will be organized by UNHCR on June 21 in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Britain will hold its traditional Refugee Week
with hundreds of events planned around the country. There will be a Celebrating
Sanctuary Festival beside the River Thames in London, where a UNHCR tent will be pitched.
On June 20, as part of a Simple Acts campaign, Home Secretary Theresa May will
invite a group of refugees to afternoon tea.

Sweden's largest and busiest railway station – Stockholm Central will host a large live
event. There will be a miniature refugee camp built from tent-shaped cards, and
a big UNHCR tent inside the station. TV monitors will show UNHCR films and
messages.

UNHCR's Athens
office will be staging a multicultural event that will bring together young
Greek people and refugees and help to spread awareness about the forcibly
displaced and understanding for their plight in a country where racism and
xenophobia are problems. Special guests will include UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador
George Dalaras and prizes will be awarded to a UNHCR-run contest on social
integration and the promotion of coexistence.

See more on
UNCHR activites in Western-Europe on these websites: UNHCR in Western Europe:

Around the world today there are 43.3 million forcibly displaced people. Of these, 27.1 million are internally displaced (IDP) and 15.6 million are refugees.

Afghanistan is the leading country of origin for refugees. 2.9 million Afghans live in 71 countries as refugees. Most of them live in Pakistan or Iran.

Four out of five refugees are settled in developing countries. 16 % of the refugees are settled in Europe.

Pakistan has takes in the highest number of refugees in the world: 1.7 million.

Colombia is the county in the word with the most internally displaced people: 3.3 million people.

African countries account for 40 % of all IDPs. Conflicts in the Democratic republic of Congo, Sudan and Somalia are crucial factors.

Definitions:

Refugee: According to the Geneva Refugee Convention of 1951 a refugee is a person who has fled from his or her country because of “well-founded fear of being persecuted”, often for reasons of race, religion, nationality or political opinion.

Asylum seeker: An asylum seeker is someone who says he or she is a refugee, but whose claim has not been evaluated by the authorities in the country where the person seeks asylum.

Migrant: Migrants choose to move for example to improve their future economic prospects. Since they are not forced to move to save their rights or protect their freedom, international law treats them differently.

IDP(Internally Displaced People): IDPs have not crossed international boarders, but have moved to find sanctuary within their own country. Even though they flee for similar reasons as refugees, such as armed conflict and human rights violations, they legally remain under the protection of their own government.

The Brussels based United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe - UNRIC provides information on UN activities to the countries of the region. It also provides liaison with institutions of the European Union in the field of information. Its outreach activities extend to all segments of society and joint campaigns, projects and events are organized with partners including the EU, governments, the media, NGOs, schools and local authorities.